1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a putter for golf, and more particularly to a structure of a head fixed to a tip end of a shaft.
2. Description of the Background Art
Putters for golf are formed by fixing heads of various designs to the tip end of a shaft. However, in order to perform accurate putting, the putters must be able to proceed along a straight path when the head is swung, and must reduce the generation of a twisting motion in the face of the head even if the head strikes a ball a little out of the sweet spot of the head when putting.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a head in a conventional putter, where the head 11 includes weights 13 of approximately the same weight disposed at both the toe-side end and the heel-side end of a face part 12, and a shaft 14 is fixed to a suitable position on the face part 12.
Weight distribution of the head 11 is such that the line connecting the centers of the weights 13 is located slightly rearward from the face 12a so as to be in parallel with the face 12a. The center of gravity xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d between the two weights 13 is located generally in the middle of the face part 12 on the line between the two weights 13. Here, since the relationship of the weights to the head has been mainly taken into account, addition of the weight of the shaft has been omitted.
Here, in the head 11 having a structure in which the weights 13 are disposed at both ends of the face part 12, the center of gravity of the sweet spot is located a shallow distance from the face, so that if a ball A is hit out of the sweet spot, an oblique angle is formed between the point of impact and the center of gravity between the two weights 13 (e.g., 27xc2x0 as shown in FIG. 3). Therefore, problems such as generating twists in the face part 12 and providing poor direction to the ball A will arise.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an L-shaped putter in which the center of gravity is set at a deep rearward position from the face to reduce the oblique impact angle relative to the center of gravity even if the ball is putted a little out of the sweet spot. Thus, generation of twists is significantly reduced to enable putting with extremely excellent direction control.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, a putter according to a first aspect of the present invention is an L-shaped putter having a head fixed to a tip end of a shaft. The putter is constructed in such a manner that the head is formed in a planar L-letter shape including a face part and a long sidewall extending rearwardly from a heel-side end of the face part. A toe-side end of the face part and an end of the sidewall are each provided with a weight.
A putter according to a second aspect of the present invention is constructed in such a manner that the sidewall is set to have a length smaller than the face part.
Here, by providing a weight at a rear end of the long sidewall extending rearwardly from the heel-side end of the face part and by providing a weight at a toe-side end of the face part, the center of gravity will be approximately at the center of a virtual oblique line connecting the two weights. Therefore, the center of gravity will be at a deep rear position from the sweet spot of the face so the impact angle will be minimized. Therefore, generation of twists in the face at the time of putting can be effectively prevented. In addition, the putter is swung as if pulling the weight disposed at the rear end of the sidewall at the time of putting, so that the head is given a self diagonal retaining inertia in which the face part performs movement along a straight path. As a result, the face part can easily hit the ball at a posture perpendicular to a target line, and the ball can be rolled accurately along the target line.